The Scary Truth About Chemicals in Dryer Sheets & Fabric Softeners

Of the 3-10 gallons of toxic household cleaning products in a home, the chemicals in dryer sheets and fabric softeners are considered to be among the most toxic. Fabric softeners and dryer sheets are made up of pernicious chemicals combined with a hefty dose of fragrance. The fragrance chemicals are particularly difficult to remove because they have been designed to cling dearly to fabric so the signature scent stays in the clothing. This is called “fragrance substantivity,” which describes how long a fragrance lasts on a particular surface and how it is affected by temperature, humidity, and other conditions.

Lingering chemical residues in the clothes enter the body through the skin, which is tantamount to eating them! Many of these compounds are solvents that directly affect the nervous system and endocrine system and can contribute to the development of chronic illness. Since the term “fragrance” on a label can mean up to hundreds of synthetic chemicals, the body is provided a cocktail of poison 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Unfortunately, most people are unaware of this issue because their constant exposure to these chemicals makes it impossible for them to realize the impact it makes on their health. Not to mention the health of those around them! The non-stop exposure has dulled their sense of smell as a warning mechanism, their ability to perceive the specific fragrance in many cases is lost, or they actually get a high and crave the smell of the clothing.

The fact that your fabric softener may be under a counter and only used occasionally is bad enough, since the chemicals in the bottles and boxes are off-gassing into your living environment. But the truth is, these chemicals are accompanying you day and night through your skin and your lungs as you wear your clothes and sleep in your sheets. That’s why using fabric softeners, dryer sheets or even laundry detergent with fragrance are such dangerous health offenders. Once you start using them, they seem practically inescapable!

Live Life Clean Tip: if you can smell detergents, fabric softeners, and dryer sheets in the laundry room when you’re not using them, that’s a sign that they’re off-gassing chemicals and degrading your indoor air quality.

12 Reasons to Get Rid of Your Fabric Softeners and Dryer Sheets

There is no sugar-coating this issue; the list above doesn’t even include fragrance chemicals! By using fabric softeners and dryer sheets, you are directly affecting your family’s health and wellbeing, as well as those who spend time with you all day. And aside from being bad for your health, these harsh chemicals soften fabrics by breaking down the fibers in your clothes. This means that you are actually wearing out your clothes faster each time you use fabric softeners and dryer sheets! The great news is that when you get rid of these products and clear the chemicals from your clothes, symptoms you never knew were associated with exposure to your clothes will disappear.

Please be careful when considering purchasing more fabric softener or dryer sheets! In particular avoid any formulas that include these chemicals:

Further Reading:

Removing dryer sheets and liquid fabric softeners with harmful chemicals from your home will go a long way towards immediately improving your indoor air quality. Ditching toxic products is a powerful first step in a deep cleaning process! Once you’ve gotten rid of dryer sheets and fabric softeners, we recommend you find a non-toxic alternative. If you have Branch Basics, it not only cleans clothes, but it can remove the toxic residues from these products. It may take some time, but it is worth it. To fully detox (remove the fragrance) from your clothes turn your clothes inside out and sun them until odors are gone. After the sun has cleared the clothes (could take weeks for some chemicals) wash in Branch Basics and Oxygen Boost. We suggest buying a new set of pajamas and sheets, if you can, so you can start sleeping in a chemical free environment right away! Read more in Why Use Branch Basics for Laundry.

There are alternatives to dryer sheets and fabric softener. We just launched our new 100% wool dryer balls, which don’t leave behind harmful chemicals in your “clean” laundry. Plus, dryer balls can even speed up the time it takes to get your clothes dry. Ready to get down to business and Detox Your Dryer? It’s easy to do! Start here.

What’s so bad about synthetic fragrances? We didn’t include them in this list because there are just so many – they needed their own article! Read about why we’re calling “fragrance” The New Secondhand Smoke.

is a Texas-based Environmental Consultant, Building Materials Specialist, and co-founder of Branch Basics. She is on a mission to inspire, motivate and empower people with information that will enable them to take proactive charge of their health and experience the transforming power of eating real food and creating a truly health home. She lives in the Hill Country with her husband and enjoys playing the piano, spending time outdoors and visiting her grandchildren.

Hi Ruth,
Sorry to just be seeing your question now. You can detox your washer and dishwasher by running cycles with Branch Basics concentrate on an empty load (no laundry and no dishes). For example, for a washing machine, simply add 1 teaspoon Concentrate to a small load cycle and run a cycle as normal. You may have to run more than one cycle to full detox the machine.

I just ordered my set of Branch Basics for the first time so I haven’t made the transition yet, so maybe this question will be answered when I do. But I am totally bummed to hear this about dryer sheets. Do you have a recommended replacement? Our water is really hard and I can’t stand the cardboard feel of the clothes (not to mention no clean scent) when I don’t use fabric softener. Perhaps it is the free and clear detergent that doesn’t smell great, but what about the fluffy softness? Thanks.

The words “clean” and “scent” do not belong in the same sentence, let alone side-by-side in my opinion; if it smells like a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g, it is NOT fresh, period!

I don’t want anything I own to be perfumy, and I really don’t want a face-full of someone else’s. I have such a bad reaction, that my heart races, and I immediately get sinus PAIN…
I’m just saying….think about those around you….like your family, and others’.

White vinegar is an absolute must for removing excess laundry detergent (most people use 3x as much as necessary) – it will soften your clothes and help with static………………AND you won’t feel like a pickle is your outside when it rains!

The addiction comes from the stinky breakdown of the product. It smells really bad as time goes by so even if the clothes are not dirty you wash them to get rid of the smell. This stuff is so bad that everything I buy from the thrift store has to be put in the sun for days. The laundry fragrances permeate all products, especially new synthetics such as a logo company gift bag.

I thought about this clear and well , and it frightens me because I am severely addicted to scents especially fabric softener such as Suavitel , but I guess that goes in hand with how dangerous other things are as well , are air is toxic period.

Ethanol,best known as the alcohol in wine, used for disinfection and for many other uses. Camphor is used medically to solve many problems,including joint pain and cough. It has many uses and is taken orally also. And I could spend hours dissecting the many fallacies and half truths in this note.

Thank you for this article. My family and I are taking steps to get as far away from chemicals and unhealthy living as possible, but it is a process. I’ve long since stopped using dryer sheets (mainly because my husband felt so strongly about them) but now I am left with statically clothes. I agree that dryer sheets are horrible for you, but need an alternative. I will look into the dryer balls. Hopefully they address the static issue. Thanks again for sharing!

Thanks for bringing this Snopes link to our attention, although we were already aware of it. Here is the truth – all of those products have the ingredient “fragrance” listed on their labels. This is where many of these hidden chemicals are found because of the proprietary fragrance recipes. These products were tested and a slew of unexpected chemicals were found, and they are not listed on the label. This is part of why Dr. Anne Steinemann’s research was so eyeopening. There is no regulation of the cleaning industry in terms of ingredients.

snopes has been known to spread inaccurate information in addition to factual. There have been inconsistencies onl how reliable snopes can be. I trust the Environmental Working Group on food, cosmetic and cleaning products. Dr. Bronner’s is my go to cleaner for laundry, housecleaning, and bathing.